Penguin: Two Al Qaeda Book Reviews — Bunches of Guys Losing the Deep Battle of Ideas? + Celebration of Max Manwaring

Worth a read, key insights apart from the summary of the books’ contents. Bunches of Guys Owen Bennett-Jones Decoding al-Qaida’s Strategy: The Deep Battle against America by Michael Ryan Columbia, 368 pp, £23.15, September, ISBN 978 0 231 16384 2 The Terrorist’s Dilemma: Managing Violent Covert Organisations by Jacob Shapiro Princeton, 352 pp, £19.95, July, ISBN 978 0 691 15721 4

Josh Kilbourn: VIDEO from Hong Kong — Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind revelations of NSA surveillance — REACTIONS + New Details

Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations The 29-year-old source behind the biggest intelligence leak in the NSA’s history explains his motives, his uncertain future and why he never intended on hiding in the shadows Glenn Greenwald, Ewen MacAskill and Laura Poitras in Hong Kong guardian.co.uk, Sunday 9 June 2013 • Q&A with …

Allen Roland: Honoring Chalmers Johnson, Prophet of Truth + Empire Meta-RECAP

Prophet for a Dying Empire Every dying Empire has its truth telling prophet and America had its own with Chalmers Johnson. Johnson correctly compared the decay of the American empire, with its well over 600 overseas military bases, with the fall of the Roman Empire whereas the Senate becomes a wealthy corporate club and irrelevant …

Neal Rauhauser: Syria, Regional War, The Only Red Line That Matters + Syria Meta-RECAP

The Only Red Line That Matters Conclusion: Here are what I hope are a fairly complete laundry list of the issues: NATO member Greece has collapsed, triggering regional banking meltdown concerns Banks of Cyprus collapsed, Russian offshore banking haven taken out by Greek troubles Russian ally Assad’s Syria is failing, loss of Tartus would exclude …

Berto Jongman: Call for US Torture Investigation and Eradication + Torture RECAP

Out With It Americans deserve to hear the dirty secrets of the CIA’s war on terror. We’ll all be better off with the truth. In April 1975, Sen. Frank Church impaneled a special investigative committee to look into shocking accounts of CIA dirty tricks. The Church Committee ultimately published 14 reports over two years revealing …

Daniel Ellsberg: On Secrecy & Whistleblowing with Comment by Robert Steele

Secrecy and National Security Whistleblowing Daniel Ellsberg on January 8, 2013 [Originally published in Social Research] I) Reflections on Secret-keeping and Identity In the “national security” area of the government–the White House, the departments of state and defense, the armed services and the “intelligence community,” along with their contractors–there is less whistleblowing than in other …